DocRob

Thank you, when I was a kid, I only built some Airfix kits or worse. The 1/12 Tamiya kits were too expensive for my pocket money. I built my first Tamiya 1/12 F1 kit two years ago, the Renault RE20 Turbo, a decent, but not perfect kit. The Lotus 72D is surely a very old mold, but got updated in parts. There is a PE fret included, fabric seat belts and new decals, unfortunately without the JPS-branding. How it will build up, remains to be seen, but I´m optimistic overall. I will add some hoses and wiring along other details, like aluminum funnels and metal distributors. The MFH kits I built are of a far superior quality, but I think, with a bit of love, the Lotus can be build into a nice replica. Cheers Rob

Thank you Alan, I have developed a hate/love relation with high shine metal surfaces in modeling. They are difficult to achieve and very fragile, but very rewarding, when properly done. Cheers Rob

Thank you Gary, I remember your great build and am on a bit of a Lotus track myself right now. Photos I have seen suggest polished aluminum for the tub, maybe not as shiny as mine. Not much will be visible, if my plan, adding the driver figure works out. The gold color of the TBDecals sheet look good and I hope they are equally good to work with. Unfortunately there is no placement guide included, which would have been very helpful. I don´t know, how you approached the upper cowl. I took the sidewalls, taped them to the floor part temporarily and then glued in the two upper parts permanently. There is no warping at all. Cheers Rob

De nada Yves, I´m still in the learning process with car body finishes, but have established something like a working process, depending the used type of color. With the Tamiya lacquer paint, I start with a mixing ratio of about 40% to 50% of added levelling thinner. I always test spray, to see, if the paint is leveling well. The second coat got more thinner added (about 60%). It levels beautifully, but is very thin and therefore prone to color runners. It´s a bit of a struggle, but worth it in the end. I think, the better the preparation, the lesser is the sanding and polishing work in the end, which is hard to achieve in some "hidden" places, like on the wings corners. Cheers Rob

Over the last days, I did a lot of sanding and test fitting, to prepare the body and wing parts for painting and decaling. I decided to add the front wings to the nose and built up the upper side of the body along the radiator housings for not having to glue these parts later after painting and decaling. This way, I could ensure a proper fit and alignment of the parts, which will help later in the build. I primed the parts with Mr. Surfacer 1500 black primer and then sprayed Tamiya LP-1 gloss black on, heavily thinned with leveling thinner. Unfortunately, I had some tiny color runs, which easily happens with paint, thinned so much. After drying, I sanded away the imperfections and today, I resprayed the black body color. Now it looks decal ready with a near perfect high gloss finish. I also sprayed the cockpit with Ammo´s polished aluminum, which is shining fantastic, even better to the human eye, than on the picture. I read rumors, these Ammo metallic are the same as Alclad, but I don´t know for sure. Anyway, polished aluminum sprays perfectly in very fine layers over a base coat of Tamiya LP-1 gloss black. Cheers Rob

Hola amigos of the 70´s Formula 1 cars. For my next build, I chose the most iconic one of it´s time, the Lotus Type 72D, produced by Tamiya first in 1973. It´s an old kit, which will need a bit of attention. Tamiya re-released the kit a while ago, adding PE parts, seat belts and new decals. The decals unfortunately don´t have the JPS branding included and therefore, I added a complete TBDecals sheet. Other extras will be MFH aluminum air funnels and distributor and maybe MFH seatbelts, if I don´t use the included driver figure of Emerson Fittipaldi. Here are the extras; For a start, I test fitted the body section, to see, how the fit is and what will be my painting and decaling approach. There will be a lot of sanding and maybe filling to get rid off the seams. I started with the air intake and it took a lot of sanding, to erase the parting line. Cheers Rob

Nice, the guy on the right, way back seems to be a giant. Cheers Rob

Congratulations, well earned. Cheers Rob

Very nice dozer, Greg. I really like the multi colored chipping. I have a 1/35 Doobie D9r kit started, where I plan multi layer hairspray chipping. Metal base color, chipping fluid, primer, chipping fluid and finally the body color. I have no idea, if it works. Cheers Rob

A fantastic collection of more or less flying curiosities you have there, Yves. I love them all, but have to admit, the Coleoptere is a stand out. Interesting, that they were not able to calculate the lift of the annular wing correctly. It might have to do with the low speed when converting into vertical flight. Good to have computer simulation now, but your models show, there was a time in the 40´s and 50´s where everything was thought possible. I have a 1/32 Natter in stash and I am considering to build it in plywood finish, when time comes. Cheers Rob

Absolutely beautiful, good to see you back here. Cheers Rob

Somehow I missed your great build, Dan. I really like your methodical approach and the Bulldog looks fantastic. Cheers Rob

This is getting better and better Alan, Your knight looks splendid and I love the idea with the paper insignia. Color rendition and metallic sheen are excellent. On the first picture, the shield looks very shiny. I would have thought it to be matte in appearance, but this is just me. Cheers Rob

Thank you Gary, the Lotus does look good on the shelf, but it was far from an easy build. The pre-printed tires are definitely a highlight, unfortunately not copied by many companies. The added MFH details for the engine and air intakes definitely were a good invest, as the engine is so visible. Due to the fragility of the kit, I omitted further detailing with tubes and hoses. Cheers Rob

Thank you Phil and Allen, F1 cars tend to be delicate to build generally, due to lots of components in minimal space and fragile constructions. It wouldn´t have taken too much to make a premium effort with the kit for Ebbro. There are many details and clever engineering included, but poor implementations in some places, specially where the pr-chromed sprues come into play. Like you, Allan, I love the cars of this period, albeit I wasn´t following F1 racing as a youngster. I detest the later turbo monsters and after that detour, it became interesting again in the late 80`s. Cheers Rob

Thank you Ken, you are right about the cockpit no digital display, no traction control, just what you need for driving. I don´t know exactly, but I think, it was one of the first F1 cars with seat belts. Not all of the pilots liked them, because it was difficult to open them quickly after an accident with fire breaking out. When I remember correctly, Jochen Rindt, the driver of my car died soon after the Monaco race, possibly because he wasn´t wearing the seat belts correctly for the fear from fire. Cheers Rob

I got the Lotus 49c over the finish line. Final assemblies were the rear wing, the tiny metal nets over the air intakes, the steering wheel and clear parts around the cockpit and many small parts. The wing was easier mounted then thought, luckily. The rods were fragile and I can understand, why wings were banned sometimes in F1 due to the risk of flying around and hurting somebody. I hope, I did Jochen Rindt´s 1970 Monaco winner some justice. The build was not always pleasant, but I like the result despite some shortcomings. Cheers Rob

That will end as a nicely busy scene, Greg. It will look like a snapshot with a camera, great. Cheers Rob

Thank you Gary, it´s good to see the checkered flag near by with the Lotus. There will be an extensive touch up session before I call it finished. The sprayed chrome is very sensitive to the touch, luckily a chrome pen works relatively well. With the delicate construction, I omitted further wiring and piping. That will have to wait for a Tamiya Lotus 79 in 1/20 scale. Cheers Rob

Thank you Yves, but the result wouldn´t be sufficient for further macro photos. The Lotus was supposed to be a fun build, but was more of a nuisance then. I hope fot the best with the fragile rear wing construction, but could imagine some more probs on the horizon. Cheers Rob

Almost done, the Lotus and my nerves. Assembly is very difficult due to fit issues and the complexity of the car itself. There were the exhausts with a special PITA award mentioning. I had to break them from the engine, because it would have been impossible to install the four chromed rods, connecting the body with the rear suspension. I had to shave off a lot of the exhausts undersides to fiddle them in and glue them in place. Cheers Rob

A lot is going on lately, not modeling wise unfortunately, but I´m still onto the Lotus 49. Everything is prepared and painted and waiting to be assembled. The kit is a VERY mixed bag quality wise. Some engineering is fantastic and you need no glue to assemble, others areas are downright terrible, specially where the pre chromed parts come into play. I de-chromed the sprues with oven cleaner, because the detail looked soft. Unfortunately it wasn´t the chrome, the plastic got covered in a layer which looks like clear resin as a base for the chrome and this is not removable. It´s also impossible to glue the de-chromed parts with plastic glue, they call for CA. I had to drill most of the holes on the back end out, they were simply to narrow. One of the best aspects of the kit are the pre-printed tires, an approach, I wish other companies would copy. The rims were sprayed polished aluminum and semi gloss black, as the chrome looked wrong. I assembled the gearbox with the rear suspension, an area, where there is great engineering, intersecting the parts with almost no need for glue. One of the worst area of the kit were the exhausts, which were chromed, albeit they need to be painted black or white, depending the car you show. The de-chromed plastic doesn´t take paint well and need CA to glue, not easy, when you assemble the four parts per side with only seconds to fit them to the engine case, moving and wiggling the fragile parts. Cheers Rob

Ak´s Extreme Metal range works also very well, except for their black base, which like Gary mentioned never cures properly and stays tacky. Like Gary, I use Tamiya LP1 gloss black as a base for high shine finishes. Your anchor windlass would be best painted with dull matte aluminum and AK has brass and bronze in their portfolio as well. They spray as perfect as Alclads, but are a bit more durable, when it comes to masking on top. Chrome and polished aluminum is a tad shinier with Alclad, but it´s only a fraction. Cheers Rob

Thank you Alan, most the Lotus cars of the era are absolute beauties, no matter if green and yellow or red, white and gold or black and gold. Thanks for your information about the silver pencil, I will buy one. I tried AK´s silver weathering pencil, but used dry, it is too grainy. Used dampened, it would have flown too much, equal with a silver marker. Initially I used a soft pencil, which fabricated great contours, but not enough silverness. My last attempt with a brush was not too successful as you can see, with the letters barely protruding. Cheers Rob

Thank you Gary, I have two 1/12 scale Tamiya DFV´s as well, the Lotus 72 and Brabham BT44. These will be further detailed with MFH sets, like this one. Than there is one for a MFH Lotus 77, but I missed their actual release, the McLaren M23 with the same engine, which would have been a nice display together, depicting the final race of the 1976 season in the rain in Japan. Then there are numerous incarnations in 1/20 scale from Tamiya and Ebbro in my stash. I hope, I don´t get bored by replicating this engine so often. Cheers Rob